Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski, above, told a call-in show on CBC Radio that Jenni Byrne, the director of political operations for the party, is ultimately responsible for Saskatchewan robocalls.

Photograph by: Don Healy
, Regina Leader-Post

OTTAWA — The prime minister said Wednesday that a controversial “push poll” in Saskatchewan followed all the rules, hours after a senior Conservative MP from that province denounced the robocall as “deceptive” and said the party’s political director should be held responsible.

“The party has already explained that it has followed the rules and the law in this situation,” Stephen Harper said.

The telephone poll — which appeared designed to rally opposition to riding-boundary changes the Conservatives oppose — went out last Thursday night. On Friday afternoon, Fred DeLorey, the communications director for the party, told the Citizen the party was not doing the calls.

On Tuesday, after an American forensic audio analyst matched a voice message associated with the robocall to the owner of Conservative call provider RackNine Inc., DeLorey issued a statement for the party taking responsibility for the calls and saying there had been an “internal miscommunication.”

Wednesday, Tom Lukiwski, the government’s deputy House leader, told Saskatoon radio station CKOM the calls were “deceptive” because they didn’t identify that they came from the party. On CBC Radio, he said that the party’s political director, Jenni Byrne, should be held responsible.

But when NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair stood in the House of Commons and accused the party of lying about the call until presented with proof, Harper said it had followed the rules.

DeLorey and Byrne did not respond to calls or emails on Wednesday to explain how the calls complied with CRTC rules — which require that such calls identify the source — or to say why it took the party so long to realize that it had made the calls.

On the CBC phone-in show, Lukiwski said he was unhappy about the calls, and blamed the party.

“I don’t know which party official it would be, but I know that Jenni Byrne, who is the executive director, said, well, ultimately the buck stops with her,” he said. “She would take full responsibility.”

Byrne, who keeps a low public profile, is known as a talented, tough and formidable operative, fiercely loyal to Harper.

Saskatchewan’s one opposition MP, Liberal Ralph Goodale, this week sent a letter to the CRTC asking for an investigation based on his suspicion that the call broke telemarketing rules by failing to identify the originator.

Since the summer, Conservative MPs have repeatedly responded to questions about the robocalls affair by pointing out that the only finding of wrongdoing has been against Guelph Liberal MP Frank Valeriote’s riding association. The association paid a $4,900 fine for a CRTC violation over a late campaign call that attacked the Conservative candidate for his position on abortion, without identifying the Valeriote campaign as the sponsor of the call.

CRTC does not publicly acknowledge investigations until they are concluded. The investigation into the Guelph call took almost five months.

Wednesday, the Conservatives appeared to have lost their appetite for challenging the conclusions of the independent Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Saskatchewan, which recommends creating five entirely urban seats in Regina and Saskatoon — a redraw thought to disadvantage the Tories in the 2015 election.

Harper told the House of Commons that his party would not try to change the boundaries suggested by the commission when they are formalized through legislation.

“Some years ago, the Liberals tried to bring in partisan legislation to overturn boundary commission recommendations,” he said. “We would never do that.”

The revelation that RackNine appears to be linked to the “deceptive” robocall in Saskatchewan put the Conservatives on the defensive, since RackNine was the company used to make an election day call in Guelph that appears to have been designed to keep opposition supporters away from the polls.

RackNine CEO Matt Meier, who declined to comment this week, has said that he had no idea his firm was used to make the Guelph call, and has been helping the Elections Canada investigation, which has gone on for 22 months.

Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre said on Wednesday that the call in Saskatchewan followed the rules, since the company named in the call, Chase Research, was registered with the CRTC — apparently a reference to the requirement for telemarketers to sign on to the Do-Not-Call-List.

It was not immediately possible to confirm that.

A search through the registry of Alberta trade names and corporations failed to turn up any company called Chase Research.

The party has not said that Meier or RackNine made the Saskatchewan call.

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